March 12, 2010

Mitchell students teach high school students about constitutional rights in Marshall-Brennan Project

Nazrawit Dimore, a junior at Central High School in St. Paul, didn’t know that locker searches were governed by the Fourth Amendment until she met Mitchell students Charlie Lehmann and Knapp Fitzsimmons.

Lehmann and Fitzsimmons are helping Dimore and her classmates understand their constitutional rights through the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, which empowers high school students to be responsible citizens and lifelong participants in the democratic process by teaching them about their constitutional rights and responsibilities through the Supreme Court cases that affect them.

Working as Marshall-Brennan Fellows, eight Mitchell students are teaching government classes for nine weeks at Central Senior High School, Como Park Senior High School, and Avalon School in St. Paul during spring semester. They work in pairs and are responsible for the entire class—from developing lesson plans to leading classroom discussion to grading tests and papers.

Eleven U.S. law schools are participating in the project, which is named after the late U.S. Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan. Mitchell is the first and only Minnesota law school participating.

“One of the most important things high schools can teach students is how to be active and engaged citizens and to know what their rights are,” Fitzsimmons said. “A lot of times, students feel like they have no rights.”

Learning about her rights has inspired Dimore to study and participate in politics in the future.

The benefits you get from learning and teaching the material transcend the classroom,” Lehmann said. “Plus, it’s a good way to get involved in the community and give something back.”

Through teaching, the Mitchell students are learning about preparation, presentation, teamwork, and lawyering, said
Professor Mary Pat Byrn, Mitchell’s Marshall-Brennan Project director.

Fitzsimmons describes the experience as unique. “The hands-on experience you get in leadership builds your confidence,” he said. “You learn how to articulate the law to people who don’t understand it, so it’s good practice for explaining complex legal issues in non-legal terms to clients.”

To aid in classroom teaching, Mitchell students also take an advanced Constitutional Law seminar on relevant constitutional law cases and instructional strategies for high school students with Professor Byrn. Marshall-Brennan Fellows are second and third-year law students and earn three credits.

• Mitchell students: The deadline to submit Marshall-Brennan Fellow applications for fall 2010 has been extended to March 22.Learn more and apply now.